Agoraphobia
by xLIVExEVILxSTEALxCOOKIESx
Summary: Reid is forced to go recruit agents, much to his dismay. Things actually seem to be going well when one person asks the fateful question "Have you ever been injured on a case?" Will Reid scare the poor young adults out of joining the FBI? because let's face it, it's always Reid.


**So, my good friend HOC97 and I have decided to have a (not so) friendly contest to see who can make the best story out of **

"**Oh My God this is so great! … what are we talking about?" **

**So all you need to do is read both and review whichever one you prefer, giving your vote. **

**Of course you're free to not bother to read HOC97's and just vote for mine, that would be cool too ;) **

**Without further ado, here's my story. xxx xxxx**

**Agoraphobia **

"Oh My God, This is So Great!" Emily enthused "Er . . . what are we talking about?" Morgan laughed uproariously from across the aisle on the private jet

Reid grimaced "Shut up, Morgan" he quipped "I was just complaining about how I'm being forced to go to another college to preach about how wonderful the FBI is. They're going to hate me!" he moaned

"Your profiling skills are falling behind, Prentiss!" Morgan chided with a grin

"Yea, is something wrong?" Reid questioned with wide, concerned eyes "You're usually better at pretending to care about what I'm saying. I know this because usually it takes someone to tell me to shut up before I get that no one's interested…"

"He's right, if the pretty boy notices he's not being listened to then things are bad" Morgan agreed

"I'm fine guys" Emily assured "I think it's the amazing 'afraid of crowds' Dr Reid we should be worried about"

"Agoraphobia" said genius replied automatically, ignoring Morgan and Emily's eye rolls "And you're right. Why do they always send me!?"

"It's just because you're young and relatable" Morgan answered easily

"And not as intimidating as Morgan" Emily joked

"But I'm _not_ relatable!" Reid stressed "I spent my childhood being ridiculed and shoved into lockers because I'm not relatable!" He squeaked

"C'mon, Reid, Prentiss is right. If I went people would think that the FBI is only for tough guys"

"So I'm going to prove that we accept wimps too?" Spencer smiled crookedly

"There you go pretty boy!"

"I think they send you to get more girlies interested in the handcuffs and high speed chase side of law" Garcia chirped from the laptop on the desk separating Reid from his companions, Hotch smiled faintly from the other side of the plain while Rossi shook his head as he heard every layer of innuendo in their tech analysts voice. Apparently their youngest member didn't.

"Isn't that more Morgan's thing?" he frowned in confusion while Prentiss, JJ and Garcia snickered

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you calling me a dog?! Again?!"

"What?! No no no I'm just saying that you're always the one who goes out on cases and I stay back, probably because you guys think I'll accidentally shoot one of you and-" Reid cut himself off when he realised that Morgan wasn't serious.

"Back on topic" Garcia sang "I think they send our dear Spencer to these things to give those poor young adults some eye candy to gawk at while he moves his mouth"

"Garcia!" Reid squawked indignantly

"She has a point" Rossi grinned slackly "The last one we went to together you had girls practically asking for your autograph and I don't think it had much to do with statistics or facts"

"I don't think that's it" Reid huffed with an endearingly pink tinge to his cheeks "I think the higher ups just like to watch me suffer"

"If they wanted that they'd make me send you into the field more often, with your luck you'd end up shooting yourself" Hotch chimed in, not looking up from the case file for the case they'd just finished

"Don't say that! It's jinxed now and will probably happen! That would be humiliating!"

"More humiliating than being overpowered and flung into a pool by a girl?" JJ teased, enjoying the flush on their resident genius's cheeks far too much.

"Oh, and when was this?" Emily pressed as Spencer put his face on the desk and groaned

"Reid made out with a Hollywood actress in a pool during a case" Morgan grinned

"It sounds terrible when you put it like that!" Reid defended when he saw the stares directed at him courtesy of Rossi and Prentiss

"Oh, no, I'm impressed; I don't think I would have ever imagined _you_ doing something like that. Morgan, on the other hand . . ."

"So what, she just grabbed your arm and pulled you in?"

"Well I was kind of freaking out because she was being stalked by a murderer and wasn't taking it seriously at all and actually put on a swim suit and went swimming! It took me like five minutes to get her to agree to come back inside, she asked me to help her out-"

"And dragged you in instead" Emily finished with a laugh

"He looked like a drowned rat when we found him, drying off his gun"

"But he did end up saving Lila's life, so our Junior G man is pretty cool" Garcia smiled like a proud Mama

"Can we stop talking about this now?!" Reid begged "I have more important things to worry about, like how in a couple of hours I have to go talk in front of a bunch of strangers! I'm not good with strangers, unless there's something unhinged in their brains, I just don't understand them! Why can't one of you do it?! JJ, you're not intimidating and you're good with crowds!"

"Sorry, but I think this will be a great learning experience for you, getting over your fear of crowds"

Reid groaned again but accepted his fate. JJ was probably right anyway.

JJ was not right. Dr Spencer Reid knew this as soon as he stepped out onto the stage –for lack of a better word- He felt that familiar nervousness creep up his throat and threaten to choke him as looked at each face, they all ranged from bored to expectant to excited to … something Reid couldn't really put into words even in his own head but the few giggling girls whispering to each other unnerved him.

"Hi, I'm eh, I'm Dr Spencer Reid, I work in the FBI in the Behavioural Analysis Unit. You might know it as the er BAU? Basically we profile criminals –em studying the way they would think based on things we can gather from crime scenes, victims stuff like that and hopefully we'd be able to determine who the killer is and what he or she would do next"

The audience seemed impressed with this information for the most part so Reid allowed himself a soft smile, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

The next hour passed with Reid talking, and people actually listening for once and the students asking questions. All was going well until

"Have you ever been injured on a mission?" One boy asked and Reid would have been amused by the term "mission" had he not been mentally going through all the injuries he'd acquired since joining the FBI

"I'm probably not a good example for that" he tried to explain "I'm like a magnet for bad luck, luckily enough though it almost never effects the people around me…"

"Oh, I still wanna know" The boy persisted and Reid smiled nervously

"Ok, so I was injured during the Fisher King case I don't know if any of you have heard of it but Randall Garner was the unsub and he blew himself up and I managed to get out but was set on fire, there was also the Tobias Hankell case where I was kidnapped, tortured –physically and mentally- drugged repeatedly, killed then revived and forced to play a very one-sided game of Russian roulette. There was also that time when Agent Hotchner and I were held hostage in a hospital by a narcissistic man with great aim and a big gun. Agent Hotchner kicked me repeatedly in the gut to convince the unsub that he was on his side and also that I could take the gun from his ankle holster. Also I've contracted An- a disease that would have killed me in a day if I hadn't found the cure, er, I've been shot in the leg not to mention having a gun held to my head numerous times and also held captive by a murderer but it was okay because I hit him with a lead pipe…" Reid trailed off and fidgeted under all the student's shocked gazes.

"Eh… Any more questions?" he squeaked after a few moments of deafening silence.

"How are you still alive?" A boy with long hair and a beanie blurted

"We've been wondering the same thing for years" Morgan chuckled from the doorway from the auditorium to the outside world.

"Morgan?" Reid asked with an adorably bewildered expression on his face

"We've got a case, pretty boy" Morgan grinned as Reid shot him a look that plainly read _'Please stop embarrassing me in front of the college students'_

"Morgan, no teasing Reid, we have to go" JJ scolded as she popped her head in the door.

Reid made his way down the aisle as students stared

"Is hot like a rule in the FBI?" the beanie boy felt the need to ask as Reid blushed, Morgan's grin enlarged and JJ smirked

"No" they said (more like squeaked on Reid's part)

"Trust me, you wouldn't say that if you saw Strauss" Morgan quipped

JJ chastised Morgan for disrespecting his superior but it had little effect as she was grinning.

"Em, the case guys?" Reid finally interrupted them

"Oh, yea, no time to explain just grab your go bag and we'll brief you on the plane" JJ said, suddenly back to professional liaison mode.

"Ok" Reid nodded before turning back to their avid audience "Em sorry but I've got to go…. Join the FBI" he finished with awkward enthusiasm that prompted Morgan to noogie him.

"And stay in school" Morgan added with a laugh before pulling the BAU's resident genius out the door with him. Reid was too busy complaining and trying to get his teasing co-worker to notice the girl (and a few boy) students all coo over him. JJ shook her head in amusement then went to catch up with her arguing friends. Time to try and bring a little more justice to the corrupt world they lived in.

**EPILOUGE **

The case had been a stressful one, their unsub had killed six children all blonde girls with green eyes because they reminded him of the daughter that had chosen to go with her mother when the unsub and his wife had split up, the mother going to France to get away from him. They'd found him in time to stop the seventh murder but the man had gone down in a hail of bullets.

Even so, Emily Prentiss sat back in her chair with a soft smile on her face. Reid sat across from her with a cup of instant goodness- meaning coffee of course- and a small smile as a form of greeting.

"You okay?" he asked softly. Emily had been slightly off for most of the case but towards the end she had gotten a call that she'd taken privately; she came back looking like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders and she worked more efficiently.

"Yea" she replied

"It's just that you seemed worried about something earlier" the baby of the team pressed.

Prentiss would have told him not to profile her, she would have told Morgan or Hotch that but looking into Reid's twin pools of earnest brown eyes she sighed.

"Sergio"

"Your cat?" Reid blinked

"He's been a bit ill lately and I had a friend of mine take him to the vet today, turns out that Sergio is more of a . . . Samantha"

When Reid appeared not to understand, Emily elaborated "My cat is pregnant"

"Oh, em congratulations?" The young genius said uncertainly

"Thanks" the female agent laughed quietly, as not to wake any of the others who were all asleep "But you can't tell Morgan"

"That your cat is pregnant?"

"That I was worried about him, her" Emily corrected

"Aww" Reid nodded in understanding but then pouted "And I thought you could take some of the heat off me, I don't think Morgan's ever going to stop teasing me"

"Sorry handsome, I want your solemn oath that you won't tell that relentless mocking machine of a man about this"

"You have my solid oath" Reid grinned

"That you won't tell Morgan about me worrying about Sergio" Emily eyed him suspiciously remembering that she was dealing with a genius magician (which seemed to equal con man where Spencer Reid was concerned) from Vegas.

"I promise not to tell Morgan that you were worried about Sergio, or Samantha" Spencer promised and Emily was about to thank him when she saw a familiar mischievous glint in his eyes as he continued "But I don't think it matters because he's seems to have been feigning sleep for the last three minutes"

Emily groaned as Morgan immediately pounced and made every cat themed joke he could possibly think of.

"You two are evil" She groaned

"Sorry" Reid apologised while Morgan just laughed harder, waking up everyone.

Just another day in the BAU.

And curiously enough, twenty percent of all students attending Reid's lecture joined the FBI at a later date with 13 percent of them trying for the BAU. And Reid was forced to talk in front of people a lot more from there on out.

But he didn't find it nearly as scary as he used to. Their baby genius was growing up.

**AN **

**In case you didn't read the one at the start**

**So, my good friend HOC97 and I have decided to have a (not so) friendly contest to see who can make the best story out of **

"**Oh My God this is so great! … what are we talking about?" **

**So all you need to do is read both and review whichever one you prefer, giving your vote. **

**Of course you're free to not bother to read HOC97's and just vote for mine, that would be cool too ;) **


End file.
